Activists of the collective Yellow Safety Jacket protest against the proposed statutory amendment legalizing the euthanasia of young children in Brussels, Belgium. / Julien Warnand, epa

by Sumi Somaskanda and Jabeen Bhatti, Special for USA TODAY

by Sumi Somaskanda and Jabeen Bhatti, Special for USA TODAY

BERLIN - A fiercely debated measure extending the right to die to children passed the Belgian parliament Thursday, making the country the first to completely lift age restrictions on euthanasia to minors.

"We aren't speaking about death, we are speaking about the way to die," said Philippe Mahoux, a Socialist Party senator and the bill's main sponsor. "What we are giving them is the possibility to die with dignity, without suffering, without intolerable pain."

The 86-44 vote Thursday in the House of Representatives, with 12 abstentions, followed approval by the Senate in December. The law will go into effect when signed by Belgium's monarch, King Philippe. The king was not expected to oppose the measure.

Belgium has had a fierce public debate over the measure for years. The Belgian Senate voted 50-17 in December to amend the country's 2002 law on euthanasia so that it would apply to minors but only under certain specific conditions including parental consent and a requirement that any minor desiring euthanasia demonstrate a "capacity for discernment" to a psychiatrist and psychologist.

Opponents say minors are not capable of such a drastic and irreversible decision.

"Minors decide more impulsively than adults and they don't have the same perspective of short-term and long-term decisions," said Els van Hoof, a lawmaker from the Christian Democratic and Flemish party.

"Their brains aren't as developed on an emotional, moral or cognitive level as an adult, and they are more depending on the influence of authority, and authority in this case would be the doctors or the parents."

"It's too high a risk to leave this decision in the hands of children," van Hoof added.

Polls indicate Belgians overwhelmingly support euthanasia and the measure to lift its age restrictions: A recent poll found that 75% want the right to die extended.

This is especially true of parents of terminally ill children, supporters say.

"Our daughter, she was just lying there, not responding," Linda Van Roy of Schilde told Deredactie.be, a Belgian news site and broadcaster.

She said her daughter Ella-Louise had a rare genetic disorder, Krabbe disease, and died from it in 2011. "That was not the farewell we wanted for her."

But 160 Belgian doctors signed an open letter against the measure earlier this week, saying it is unnecessary and that advances in medicine can alleviate the suffering of most patients.

Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in Belgium have condemned the bill for trivializing death and setting society on a dangerous path.

"We are opening a door that nobody will be able to close," Andre Leonard, the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and chairman of the Episcopal Conference of Belgium, told the Associated Press. "There is a risk of very serious consequences in the long term for society and the meaning we give to life, death and the freedom of human beings."

Belgium, one of the few countries that has allowed euthanasia, first passed legislation legalizing euthanasia in 2002 and in 2012, the number of those opting for it increased 25% to 1,432 cases. The mainly secular country, which has a strong Roman Catholic tradition, is one of just a few European countries to allow some form of assisted dying.

Euthanasia for adults is permitted in Luxembourg and in special cases for terminally ill patients age 12 or older in the Netherlands. Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide by doctors since the 1940s, offering the service in clinics such as Dignitas. Still, euthanasia remains illegal.

Under current Belgian law, parents of terminally ill children can opt for palliative sedation, where high doses of sedatives are prescribed at the end of the patient's life. Food and liquids are then withdrawn to speed up death, which normally occurs within hours or days.

This, say opponents of the current measure, is the proper way for terminally ill children to die.

"One can die with dignity having been given proper palliative care and that's, I would've thought, a better way of expressing one's dignity than simply being put down," said Charles Foster, a United Kingdom-based lawyer who specializes in medicine.

"Euthanasia is active killing. Let's not forget, these euthanasia laws get a lot of publicity but only an overwhelming minority of nations actually allow it."